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Verizon Wireless has just announced that one of their most powerful smartphones, the Droid Bionic, will be going on sale this Thursday (September 7th) for $299.99.

In case you are unfamiliar with the Droid Bionic, it is the first Verizon phone to run on a dual-core 1GHz processor to run on Verizon’s fast 4G LTE network. And besides selling the phone, Verizon will also be selling accessories for the phone such as an 11.6 inch lapdock for roughly $300.

This lapdock was first brought up at the CES this past January showing the ability of the phone to connect and run the laptop through its powerful processor. This would give users a full keyboard and large screen to do whatever they like such as edit documents, watch movies, or just browse the web on Firefox.

Although the price of the new smartphone may be high, it is in fact the only smartphone on Verizon that runs on the 4G LTE network with a dual core processor. Besides this, the phone is also now the slimmest phone on the Verizon market being only 0.43 inches thick and weighing in at only 5.6 ounces.

The Bionic will run on the latest version of Android (Android 2.3.4), and will support up to 32GB of storage. The phone also has a front and rear facing camera with the rear one being 8 megapixels putting the phone in major competition with newer smartphones.

Although the price is high, it seems the Droid Bionic packs quite the punch and with the external lapdock, it could even be used as a new cheap laptop!

Earlier today, Verizon announced the launch of their newest BlackBerry smartphone, the BlackBerry Bold 9930. The phone will cost you around $249.99 with a new two-year contract as well as a $30 monthly data plan.

The BlackBerry Bold is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone yet measuring in at 10.5mm. The Bold is also the first BlackBerry to integrate touch screen with a BlackBerry keyboard. It will have a 2.8 inch touch screen display and will be running on BlackBerry 7.

Some other key features of the device include full QWERTY keyboard with trackpad navigation, a 1.2GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera able to take 720p HD video, and memory can be expanded up to 32GB through a microSD slot.

Besides this, the phone is also “global ready” meaning that customers can enjoy the high speeds in over 200 different countries.

That’s right, if you own a Canon EOS camera, then you now have a new way to take pictures. It used to be that you had to use the EOS utility on your computer to do “live view” shooting but now, all you need is an Android powered smartphone (sorry iPhone users) equipped with a new app from Chainfire called, DSLR Controller.

The app is just about what you think it would be. When turned on, it turns your Android device into an external live view monitor. Some other features allow you to tweak exposure, shutter speed, aperture, focus, zoom, flash, and much more. The app gives you complete control over everything your camera does and you don’t even have to be next to it!

Right now, the app is in beta so there are still some things that need to be fixed. Such as the app being only available on certain smartphones or how the live streaming at 15 frames per second.

Either way, this app seems great. When it comes out of beta i’m assuming many people will find great use of it.

In America, a child goes missing on average about every 40 seconds. It was because of this statistic that the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the launch of their first smartphone app (only available on the iPhone for now), called Child ID.

The main function of the app is that it allows parents to enter in information such as height, and weight as well as upload photos about their child. This way, if for whatever reason, the child goes missing, the parents can show police the app and it will be able to give a full report on what the child looks like.

Besides entering information about your child, the app also gives tips on keeping your children safe as well as what to do when you find out that your child went missing.

Now putting information and photos of your children on an app may seem dangerous or scary but the FBI stresses that they do not in any way store the information you enter in until they themselves decide to send anything to the authorities.

If you are the owner of a smartphone from AT&T, then you most likely have good news coming your way. Earlier today, AT&T confirmed that after the launch of the HTC Status, they will be launching the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update for all of the smartphones on the network.

Some of these phones include:

HTC Inspire

LG Phoenix

Motorola ATRIX

Pantech Crossover

Samsung Captivate

Samsung Infuse

Side note that some AT&T users may have to connect to Wi-Fi or to their computers in order to download/install the new update.

Earlier today, Motorola announced that they will be shipping their latest phone, the Motorola Cliq 2. The new phone will cost $100 with a new contract and about $400 without one. The phone has a lot to offer and has a very unique design (picture to the left).

As I said, the phone looks pretty sweet and has some neat features. The Cliq 2 will have a 3.7inch touch screen display and will run on the new Android 2.2. It will also have Adobe Flash support making internet browsing much easier. The phone will also come with a 2GB microSD memory card although it can be expanded up to 32GB or storage.

Besides the phone, Motorola also released a new app to the Android market. It’s called DriveSmart and its main purpose is to prevent people from texting or calling while driving. The app is a good concept and seems like it will help (if people decide to turn it on while driving).

Basically, the app will mute notifications for texts and any calls or alarms. Besides this, you have to option to automatically send a text back (ex: “I’m currently driving and can not talk”) or forward a call directly to a Bluetooth headset or your voicemail. Right now there is a free version that offers all of this but there’s also a $10 monthly version that uses GPS to determine when you should turn the app on and off. It also gives parents updates on when the driver turns off the app while driving (“overriding it”).

So all in all, the phone and app combination from Motorola looks to be a good start to a good year. What are your thoughts?

On my blog yesterday, I typed about one of Verizon’s upcoming 4G phones, the DROID BIONIC. Today’s blog is yet another 4G Verizon phone called the HTC Thunderbolt.

Announced a couple days ago at CES, the Thunderbolt looks pretty impressive. It has a 4.3 inch touch screen display, front and rear facing cameras and runs on Android 2.2 mixed in with HTC’s Sense 2.0 display.

Looking at the phone, it looks to be a media based smartphone. A 8 megapixel camera that records in HD is just the tip of the iceberg. Besides this, its wireless DLNA allows the device to stream video and other media to other DLNA devices such as HDTVs. It also comes with a 32GB microSD card and there is a stand built in the phone to make things more comfortable while watching HD videos. To top it all off, the phone’s audio is considered surround sound.

All of this on top of a 4G network seems to be pretty impressive. Looks like we will have a ton of more smartphones on the 4G network coming our way.

It has been announced that Samsung will be revealing their own mp3 player based on their Galaxy S phones in order to compete with Apple’s iPod touch at CES next week. The mp3 player looks very similar to the Galaxy S phone but of course will not actually have the phone capabilities. However, it will be running on Android 2.2.

Not much is known about the device yet but reports say that it will be 9.9mm wide with a 4 inch LCD touch screen display. Besides running on Android 2.2, the device will have a 1GHz processor, 3.2 megapixel camera with HD video playback. It of course will have Wi-Fi, bluetooth, and GPS capabilities and an expandable MicroSD card slot. And like all Android devices, you will be able to purchase and download apps from the market.

So not much is know yet, but from what is, it looks to be a great competitor to the iPod Touch and the Zune HD. In my mind, it looks like Samsung is catching on to Apple’s selling techniques with a competitor to the iPhone, iPad, and now iPod. What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below.

That’s right, as the title says, multi-core processors have now come to the mobile phone industry. Earlier today, LG announced that Europe and Asia will be the first to see the first phone with multi-core processing power, the Optimus 2X. The smartphone is a Google Android phone and comes with the dual core Tegra 2 chip made by Nvidia.

Now not too much is known about the phone but the dual-core is enough to draw some people in. With this new processor(s), the phone’s overall speed will increase significantly, it will be able to playback 1080p video without any lag, and it is said to increase webpage loading by an outstanding 33%!

So although not much else is known about the phone, I already give it a big rating because of the dual-core processor. What are your thoughts? Comment below!